Cherries and Roses
by Naruto-fan-Okami-chan
Summary: Sakura has been forced into joining drama club by Ino, and she thinks it'll just be a big waste, that is...until Sasuke Uchiha walks into the classroom. -SasuSaku-AU-
1. Drama Club

**Cherries and Roses**

**Chapter One- Drama Club **

Down the hall, through the courtyard, up another hall, and up the stairs. Ino Yamanaka dragged her best friend Sakura Haruno through the school.

"I don't see why you're making such a big deal about this." Sakura grumbled while being led by the arm by her friend.

"Because," Ino replied, "you have to be there to see me take my first step to becoming a _star_!"

"By joining Drama Club?" Sakura scoffed. "Okay, I can see why it'd lead _you _to fame, but why the hell are you making _me _join!"

"I'm nothing for now without my partner in crime!" Ino answered.

"Last time you called me that, we ended up in detention for a week." Sakura mumbled.

**And she mucked up our perfect score! **Inner Sakura boomed. **We have to try and convince her to let us not join!**

"_Yeah, but what do I say?" _Sakura's own mind asked.

**Um…uh…tell her you're allergic to those big, red curtains that cover the stage! How could you perform or even be near the area when there's a chance you may get a sudden allergic reaction!**

"_Yeah, right, I'll go for that."_

**Good!**

"_That was sarcasm. Oh crap! We're coming up to the boards! We're screwed now!" _

With that, Sakura pushed Inner Sakura to the back of her mind, while regretting every second of Ino writing down their names on the Drama Club sign-up board.

"Oh, come on, Sakura." Ino sighed. "It won't be that bad, maybe we'll even meet a couple cute guys!"

"Find a cute guy that's into Drama Club, yeah, right, why don't you just sign me up for the Nerd Association while you're at it?" Sakura griped.

Ino suddenly tamped over to Sakura, grabbed her by the front of her shirt and pulled her up to eye level.

"Did you just mock the Drama Club? _Did you_?"Ino yelled.

"_Oh, god, she's going into one of her little fits again, and I'm the target in her way!" _

"Ino, calm down, it was just a joke." Sakura tried to convince her.

Ino loosened her grip on Sakura's shirt, and huffed her annoyance.

"Fine, let's go now, or we'll be late to class." Ino declared, and started to walk off down the hall.

**That was a close one! **Inner Sakura sighed.

"_Didn't I just get rid of you?" _

**You can't get rid of me! I'm too cute!**

"_Whatever." _Sakura mentally rolled her eyes and followed Ino down to their next class.

'"'"'"'"

The next day was the first day that Drama Club assembled. Ino dragged Sakura in to their designated room and sat her down.

"Well, Sakura, you're here and you're not dead, and you're not miserable. It's just a bunch of high school kids gathered together to act as people in front of other people." Ino proclaimed.

"Can I start feeling miserable at who our teacher is?" Sakura inquired, and pointed to the front.

Ino looked ahead, and even her expression of joy faltered. At the front of the class was Kakashi Hatake, the second biggest perverted adult in the school next to Vice Principle Jiraiya.

"Well," Ino sighed, "every place has its' flaws."

Suddenly, the rioting sound of several girls boomed from the hallway. "Kyah! Oh my gosh! It's Sasuke!"

Sakura's heart skipped a beat as Sasuke Uchiha made his way into the classroom and quickly took a seat; trying, and failing, to not draw much attention.

A watch on Kakashi's wrist beeped, and, ignoring the cries from girls out in the hall who now wanted to join the Drama Club, he closed the door and walked up to the front.

"Well," he began, "you all should know who I am, so we'll skip the introductions. Welcome to Drama Club, it seems we've already got some natural celebrities sitting with us today, and so I'm glad to infer that this will be a great class."

No one really seemed to be paying attention, even Sakura, who was too busy listening to Ino murmur about being right about cute guys being in Drama Club.

"Well then if no one's paying attention, I guess I won't be telling anyone what play we'll be starting, and you all can just sit here wasting the hours away."

A few of the members fell silent, and began urging others to be silent as well. Ino clamped her mouth shut, finally, and looked straight ahead.

"Right." Kakashi sighed. "For starters, we'll be doing a romantic comedy called 'Cherries and roses'."

At the mention of the word "romantic" almost every girl turned their gaze to Sasuke, who was just staring out a window, not even paying attention.

"Right, so, we'll do auditions a little differently than you imagine: you'll all come up one at a time, and I'll hand you a script to read for a moment. Try to act it out to the best of your abilities, and I'll decide the cast from there." Kakashi explained.

While Kakashi called people up and they gave their acts, Sakura looked over to the side at Sasuke, who was still staring out the window. She felt her heart give a leap; she had liked him for years, but had never had the courage to tell him, and seeing as she didn't want to be a part of the fangirls, she only watched him from a distance.

"Haruno, Sakura." Kakashi called.

Sakura stood up and made her way to the front.

"_Whatever happens," _Sakura thought, _"I hope I end up as some insignificant maid or something." _

'"'"'"'"

Drama Club eventually let out, and they continued on with their day. Walking home later, Sakura and Ino talked.

"I really hope I get the lead role! I mean, wouldn't it be awesome? Then people can really see my genius at work!" Ino cheered.

"Uh-huh." Sakura replied.

Ino gave her a look. "You're thinking about Sasuke aren't you?"

Sakura's face reddened. "N-no!"

"Give me a break, Sakura, I already know you like him." Ino huffed.

Sakura looked down, not saying anything.

"Hey, maybe you'll get lucky and you'll get a part that's equal to Sasuke's, and then, if there's ever a part with a kissing scene that doesn't involve the two main characters, _you and him, _will get it!" Ino snickered, making Sakura's face turn scarlet.

"INO!" She shouted. "Don't even kid about that! I'd never want to do something like that for the first time on stage!"

"Oh, I know, that's why if you get something like that, you ask him over to your house to rehearse, and _really _get some practice in!"

Sakura was about to slap Ino, but her blond friend suddenly turned and declared, "Here's my turn. See you, and the results, tomorrow!"

Sakura grudgingly continued on afterwards, their conversation painfully fresh in her mind for the rest of the night.

'"'"'"'"

The next day, Sakura didn't walk with Ino. This wasn't only because she was still a little ticked about yesterday, but because Ino had dashed to school to see the results paper. Sakura was in no rush.

Arriving at the school, she meandered aimlessly down the halls. Suddenly, she heard someone calling her name.

"SAKURA HARUNOOOOO!" It was Ino, running full blast down the halls to her.

Sakura tried to turn and run, but Ino beat her, grabbed her by the arm, and led her to where a small crowd had gathered and was slowly dispersing.

Ino shoved Sakura through the crowd, and almost smashed her head up against a piece of paper that read:

**Cherries and Roses**

**Cast results**

Sakura looked at the list once, then twice, then a third time, reading the same two lines over and over again:

Ayame (Lead female): Sakura Haruno

Keichi (Lead male): Sasuke Uchiha

**This has been the first chapter of "Cherries and Roses", with all honesty, a few things were last minute decisions I made after I finished typing and realized, "Hey, I need a title and a chapter title!" There's one thing I don't like about this story, though, I decided to write it in third person, so it's no one's POV, because I want to get into, and voice, more peoples' thoughts than one, but I keep having to proof it every paragraph to make sure I didn't slip back into Sakura's POV. (Which I did, in fact, have to correct several times.) It'll make my life easier to change it, but I won't, I'll need to practice it at some point! Okay, please review and tell me what you think! **


	2. This Will Be My Life for a While

**Chapter Two- This Will Be My Life for a While **

Sakura stared at the results for a couple more seconds in shock until Ino pulled her back and into a side hallway.

"You know what this means, don't you?" Ino hissed.

"Um…I…I don't know…." Sakura replied, still in shock.

"See, I was looking at the script, just out of curiosity—"

"How'd you get the—"

Ino cut Sakura off, and spoke in a whisper. "Quiet! No one can hear about this!"

"How'd you get it?" Sakura questioned in a harsh whisper.

"Oh, you'd be surprised what Master Kakashi's perverted book love can get you." Ino answered.

"On second thought," Sakura whispered, "I don't want to know. So what'd you find out?"

"For one, there's no kissing between the lower characters." Ino whispered almost sadly, Sakura made a mental note to see what Ino got. "But for two, there is a big, climatic kissing scene between _Ayame and Keichi!_"

For Sakura, all went black after that.

'"'"'"'"

Later, as Sakura's eyes finally opened and started to adjust, she found herself in the Nurses' Office.

She sat up, grabbing her head. "What the hell happened?" She mumbled.

"You fainted."

Sakura looked to the side to see Ino watching her from a chair against the wall.

"Ino." she murmured. "What do you mean I fainted?"

"I mean you dropped unconscious in the middle of the hallway and I had to get Naruto and Kiba to carry you in."

"Oh, great…" She grumbled. "How bad was it?"

"The 'you fainting part', or the humiliation?" Ino asked.

"Both."

"I wouldn't say it went that bad. Worst was that you hit your head pretty hard on the ground, and basically caused everyone to go into a panic so bad they had to call in the principle."

"Oh, shit." Sakura sighed, embarrassed.

"Hey, it's not all that bad." Ino announced.

"Why? What can make this right?"

"I saw Sasuke in the crowd, and it looked like he was actually worried about what just happened."

Sakura turned pink for a moment.

"Well," Sakura retorted, "it's not every day you see someone drop to the ground in a dead faint. I think anyone may have gotten concerned."

"Sakura," Ino protested, "we are talking about an _Uchiha _who, might I add, is only really friends with, like, Naruto. And even though Naruto tries to make him, he just won't become friends with anyone else. Why would he care if some random girl fell unconscious in the hall? He only cared because it was little _Sakura Haruno _that fainted. Face it Sakura, he's very aware of your presence."

Sakura hugged her knees to her chest, turning red and trying to bury her face so Ino couldn't see.

**When did you become "little Sakura Haruno"? **Inner Sakura boomed.

"_Not right now, I am going through a freaking crisis!"_

**That's why I'm here! I'm supposed to help you through it!**

"_What are you, a therapist?"_

**Just call me Professor Haruno!**

"_Get on with it, this is weird."_

**Okay, I'll make it short and sweet. You, Sakura Haruno, are **_**happy **_**because you think Sasuke Uchiha may just have a glimmering hope of liking you! I bet you his emotions are all bunched up right now over the kiss that's destined to be, and he needs his unconscious lady to set them free!**

"_I'm not unconscious anymore."_

**Sasuke doesn't know that. Just give the boy some time, and you'll probably get more than just an onstage kiss!**

"_Okay, I am officially done with this." _

**You know it's truuuueee!**

"_Dammit, shut up!"_

"Sakura!"

Sakura snapped her head up. Ino had gotten up and now stood next to her.

"Did you space out or something?" Ino asked. "I thought for a moment you fainted again!"

"Oh, sorry." Sakura apologized.

At that moment the nurse walked in, and, seeing that Sakura was okay, she allowed her to go back to classes.

But, as fate would have it, upon getting out of the Nurses' Office, it was class switching time, and it was time for her and Ino to go to Drama Club.

"Well, well, look who's here." Kakashi greeted as he saw Sakura enter.

Sakura looked down as she came in, trying not to attract attention to herself. She took her seat.

"Well, aren't we all famous? Why don't you do us a favor and drop out of here." Came a cold reply next to her.

Sakura turned her head and wrinkled her nose in disgust. Sitting next to her was Karin, who she, personally, couldn't stand in the slightest.

"Oh, we all know you're just a jealous mess." Sakura turned her head to see Ino had joined in, "Just because you didn't get the lead role next to Sasuke, slut."

"Pig, stay out of this." Karin snapped.

"Ha, ha, I just can't help but feel sorry for your little…actually, there's nothing to be sorry about, just a lot of gloating to do, because little Sakura here is going to be the girl in _Sasuke's_ arms, and will get to have _her_ lips on _his_."

"Well, class, shall we begin?" Kakashi began.

Sakura looked to the front, and just heard Karin mutter something that sounded like, "_We'll see." _She got a bad feeling in her gut as she heard this. Karin's a bitch, but she knew she could go pretty far to get what she wanted.

"I'll hand out the scripts, and you all can take about twenty minutes to highlight your lines." Kakashi instructed, handing out the booklets.

Sakura took hers and flipped it open, she observed the setting description to be a little early century, and suddenly got an image in her mind of the old style clothes they'd have to wear. She shivered a bit.

Twenty minutes later, Kakashi walked to the front and announced, "Okay, let's start some rehearsal. All characters involved in Act One, please come to the front."

Sakura counted herself lucky that she wasn't in the first act, but Sasuke and Karin were, which made her nervous. Ino seemed to sense this, as she leaned over and whispered, "Gonna be hard for her to flirt when there're so many people in such a close space, everything will be fine, so cool down, Sakura."

Sakura sighed and cast her gaze to the front where they had started acting. She watched as Sasuke preformed his lines. No one was really trying, seeing as it was their first rehearsal, but Sakura still couldn't help but notice how good Sasuke really was at acting.

A thought briefly crossed her mind as she took in the scene before her. _"This…will be my life for a while…." _

**Hey, sorry this took so long. (At least long compared to my other updates.) But I have to mark this as about the most hellacious week of my life! I'm lucky to be home for five straight hours. (Not counting time at home to sleep.) That and I still have other things to do, and I have to come up with the stuff that'll fill in this story, and it's basically a bunch of stuff we people with hectic lives (a few of you should understand this) go through. So, anyway, enough of that. Tell me what you think! **


	3. Rehearsal

**Chapter Three- Rehearsals**

The week basically continued on the same way, minus the fainting. Rehearsals went on. Karin, as Sakura noticed, had tried to make a couple moves on Sasuke, only to be stealthily stopped by Ino. Sakura knows Ino does it for her, but she also has that feeling that she just loves torturing Karin either way. Now she has an excuse.

About halfway into next week was when things started to get interesting.

"Okay class." Kakashi stated. "Today we'll do some work on Act Seven, Scene Nine."

Sakura flipped her script to the correct page and flushed.

"_This is…!"_

Ino caught her look, flipped open her book, and immediately leaned towards Sakura.

"Looks like things finally got interesting." Ino whispered with a smirk.

It was the climactic scene where Ayame and Keichi kiss.

Sakura stole a glance at Sasuke. He didn't seem too swayed by the looks of it.

**Come on! This is your big chance! **Inner Sakura surfaced.

"_Are you nuts? I don't want to have my first kiss with Sasuke here in the classroom! It's too awkward!"_

**It's either here or out on stage with hundreds of people watching! **

Sakura felt as though the world was guiding her fate, and at the moment…life sucked.

Kakashi looked down at his own copy of the script and smiled; or at least he seemed to be behind his mask.

"Oh, I see." Kakashi half chuckled. "We've hit a nerve in the cast, haven't we?"

Kakashi's glanced from Sakura to Sasuke and back again.

"Don't worry," Kakashi declared "I won't make you two kiss right here and now, better to let you guys save it and wait till we get on stage for real. I know how to improvise for the moment."

The lead weight feeling in Sakura's stomach began to lighten, but an _improvisation _in the hands of a perverted teacher like Master Kakashi meant she couldn't be certain till the bell rang.

"Now, come on up." Kakashi ordered.

Sakura gulped as she stood and walked to the front with Sasuke and another girl; the only people in the act. Sakura glanced at them both. Sasuke continued to look unmoved, and she could have sworn that the girl next to her was giving her a half-glare. Stupid fangirls.

"Now," Kakashi began, "here's what we're going to do. As you all have read, while the kiss scene is very climactic, this is a romantic comedy, and so there's the laugh factor that gets added in."

Sakura glanced down at her script. She had always been so riled up about reading the kissing scene, that she barely paid attention to what was supposed to happen next.

"_Ayame and Keichi kiss; interrupted by a maid that walks in on the two. Caught in shock, they both topple over the side of the couch Ayame was sitting on previously." _Sakura quickly rehearsed in her mind. _"So basically, we're supposed to fall over the back of a couch…this ought to be interesting."_

"Also, seeing as we have no couch, we'll use the desks and these mats to cushion the fall. We'll get a real couch in once we start on-stage rehearsals." Kakashi explained, setting up the desks and mats to be where they would land.

Sasuke and Sakura positioned themselves in front of the desks, Sakura's back was to it, leaning slightly against, and Sasuke stood about a foot away.

"From the top." Kakashi exclaimed.

From there, they rehearsed their scene. Everything seemed to be going very well, Sakura thought. She and Sasuke actually appeared to work pretty seamlessly together. Until finally, the part where he had to kiss her came up.

"Okay, now Sasuke, Sakura." Kakashi ordered. "To pretend like it actually happened so we can get the falling part right, I want you two to just hug real quick, and fall back. Got it?"

"O-okay." Sakura stammered.

"Fine." Sasuke answered shortly.

Shaking a little from embarrassment, Sakura put her arms around Sasuke's chest, and he put his around her waist. Glancing out to the students, Sakura saw several envying glares at her, and Ino as she silently gave her a thumbs-up.

"Tsuki, this is where you come in." Kakashi gestured for her to walk forward.

Tsuki walked a couple paces and pretended to open a door. "Milady Ayame, there's—" she gave a fake gasp of shock.

"Now." Kakashi instructed.

Sakura leaned back over the table. Her weight, combined with Sasuke's which was coming off the ground, landed her in funny position half on the table, half on a mat, and Sasuke flipped over her onto the ground.

"Could you watch where your hair's going?" Sasuke sighed at her.

Sakura blushed a bit, realizing her hair was in his face, and she quickly rolled to the side, off the table, and on to her knees.

"My…apologies milady. I…didn't know you had company." Tsuki continued.

"I understand." Sakura replied, brushing herself off. "Do not speak a word of this, however, or you will find yourself locked up for three years."

Tsuki gave a mock look of shock and horror as she bowed and pretended to leave through and shut a door.

By that time, Sasuke had already gotten up and resumed his role as Keichi. As was instructed by the script, he wrapped his arms around her from behind and said, "Dearest Ayame…."

Sakura sighed, half because it was what she had to do, and half because she was turning red, and needed to keep it controlled.

"I am yours…beloved Keichi." She finished.

There was an involuntary clap from the left side of the room. Sakura glanced over and caught that it was Ino, who was now shoving her hands underneath her desk. She smiled coyly at Sakura.

"Well," Kakashi announced, "that was nicely done. The fall looked a little rough, but that's no surprise. We'll practice it later. Let's continue on to the next stage."

Sakura hurried over to her seat by Ino as soon as Sasuke let her go. Ino secretly passed her a quick note which she opened under the cover of her desk. It read: _Woo-hoo, Sakura! Encore! _

Sakura rolled her eyes and safely stashed the note in her pocket. She looked over at Sasuke who, again, seemed unmoved by what had happened. She looked down at her desk.

"_Maybe he doesn't feel anything towards me…." _Sakura thought a little sadly.

While across the room with Sasuke:

**Okay, it's clear; she's not looking at you! **A voice rang.

"_Why the hell do I listen to you?" _Sasuke replied to the voice in his mind.

**I'm just trying to help you on your way to **_**love. **_

"_I don't _love _anybody."_

**I know, you don't love her yet, but you do like her a lot!**

"_Who ever said that?"_

**I did! Because I know you better than you know yourself! **

"_Okay, that sounds a little weird, what are you, a stalker?"_

**Have you ever heard of a conscious, pretty boy?**

"_Yes, and I take offence to that last statement."_

**Oh, whatever! I know you like her, though!**

"_You don't have proof."_

**Then what were those things you were thinking in your mind while you held on to her? Do I need to play them back?**

"_No! Shut up! Okay! I _sort of _like her!" _Sasuke grit his teeth to hold back the color that wanted to rise in his cheeks.

**Then get to work! I'll give you tonight to think it over how you feel about her, and how you're going to actually talk to her!**

"_Tch, okay, mom. Just shut up already."_

**See you, oh clueless one!**

Sasuke let out a small sigh and looked over at Sakura, who was watching the people perform up at the front. His eyes slid over her sitting figure, stopping at a few certain locations. He suddenly snapped his head away from her and to the front, hiding the side of his face with his hand.

"_What the hell am I doing?" _This time, some color did rise.

**I told you! I told you! **A voice cheered in his head.

Sasuke glanced over at Sakura one more time before he turned his eyes to the front with a smirk.

"_Yeah, yeah, fine…." _Sasuke admitted. _"I _like_ her."_

**This concludes chapter three, which, thankfully, I feel I did much better on than chapter two now that my head's clearing and I'm not **_**as **_**tired as before. Now I'm just plain tired from the weariness of the ongoing week that's still busy for my schedule. Now we shall continue on to chapter four, where my brain can finally start kicking in some of the key plans of the story I created. I think this'll probably be five, maybe six chapters, so we're, I guess, halfway there! Please review! **


	4. Ironic Isn't It?

**Chapter Four- Ironic, Isn't It?**

The next day at school it was back to the normal scene. Drama class had just let out again, and Sakura, for one, found it to be the worst rehearsal yet. The huge group of Sasuke fangirls had their eyes on her the whole class; constantly muttering curses that they didn't mind her hearing about her getting to be in Sasuke's arms.

"_Will these stupid fangirls just give it a fucking rest already!" _Sakura thought furiously, to the extent of cursing.

She slid out of the way as another fangirl tried to trip her up. The only default was the fact that, as she dodged one girl, it landed her right in the path of another angry fangirl, who succeeded in tripping her, making her fall right in to someone's arms.

She looked up apologetically at the person who had caught her, but stopped in sudden realization.

The one who had caught her was none other than Sasuke Uchiha, the very person all those fangirls had been trying to keep her away from. Well, look now suckers! Sakura thought briefly. And look they did, with even more rage than before. It was never going to end.

"S-sorry, Sasuke." She stammered.

"It's fine," he replied, "I wanted to talk to you anyways."

Sakura stood up and stood still for a moment in thought.

**Sakura! You better start going! Sasuke Uchiha wants to talk to **_**you**_**! **Inner Sakura screamed.

Now, for once, she listened to her conscious and started to follow behind Sasuke, who had turned and began walking away from the glares of the fangirls.

He led her out to the patio area of the school and leaned against a wall. Sakura followed him, and stood by him.

"What did you want to talk about?" Sakura asked shyly.

"Well, uh…" Sasuke started.

"'_Uh.' Did he just say 'uh'? All my time of knowing him, I've never seen him at a loss for words." _

**Maybe it's because you've hardly heard him talk at all.**

"_Shut up! I don't need you downplaying this moment!" _Sakura tried to block out her conscious and looked up at Sasuke.

"I just…don't really know how to ask this."

**He's about to ask you out! I can feel it!**

"_Didn't I just turn you off?"_

**Screw you! Just listen!**

Sasuke's mind was no different.

**Spit it out already! It's just a few simple words! You can handle that! You're a big kid now!**

"_Will you shut up already!" _Sasuke's mind retorted. _"It's hard enough seeing as I barely talk to girls at all, but I don't need you yapping in my ear like Naruto does!" _

**I won't shut up until you spit it out! Do you need me to spell the words out for you? **

"Would you like to come to my place to practice the play?" Sasuke asked rapidly.

Sakura took a couple seconds to process the jumble of words Sasuke had just spat out, and upon doing so, her face turned slightly red.

"Oh…um…sure…I-I'd love to." Sakura accepted bashfully.

"Okay." Sasuke sighed, mentally relieved to hear a positive response. "My house isn't that far away, after school we can walk there."

"Okay, sounds good." Sakura replied, turning so Sasuke couldn't see her blushing.

"I'll…see you after class then." Sasuke declared, and walked off, partially because class was starting soon, and partially because now he was turning red as well.

"_Happy now?" _He thought angrily to his conscious.

**Yes, now see, that wasn't so hard, was it? Who's a good boy?**

"_I'm not a dog, you jackass."_

**Insult me and you insult yourself! **

"_Just shut up, I need some time to think."_

Out in the patio area, Sakura's mind was racing.

**Sasuke Uchiha has just asked us over to his house! It's a dream come true!**

"_Y-yeah…." _Sakura's face was still cherry red.

**Hey, maybe we'll get lucky and he'll make a move on you!**

"_Sh-shut up! I'm red enough as it is, and I don't need your little images rolling through my head to make it worse!" _

**Yeah, yeah, okay, just get to class girl!**

RING!

"Oh, shit!" Sakura yelled, and ran off to class.

'"'"'"'"

The day seemed to wear on afterwards as slow as it could. A minute seemed like an hour, and an hour…let's just say, Sakura and even Sasuke were a little miserable going through the rest of the day.

Finally, the last bell rang. Sakura speed walked as fast she could to the front of the school. Ino ran up to catch her.

"Where're you going, speedy? We had plans to walk home, remember?" Ino called.

"Oh yeah…um…I'm going to have to cancel them." Sakura replied.

"What? Why?"

"I um…have a…" The rest of Sakura's words were mumbled after that.

"What was that?" Ino asked, leaning closer.

"I have to…" Her words were lost again, and she was turning red.

"Speak up!" Ino shouted in her ear.

"I'm going over to Sasuke's!" Sakura proclaimed, a little too loudly, and she clasped her hand over her mouth.

Ino eyes widened in surprise, Sakura could tell she wanted to bust into a frenzy of twenty questions, but, seeing the look in Sakura's eye, she said, "You, me, phone, details. Later!" and ran in the other direction.

Sakura stepped out to the front and immediately found Sasuke. She walked up to him, but before she could say anything he motioned with his arm, seeing as his hands were in his pockets, and he started to walk off. Sakura followed him, keeping a bit of distance between them until they got off campus.

She sped up to walk side-by-side with him for a good ten minutes before the two reached a big house that Sasuke trudged over to. Sakura warily followed, and walked through the door he opened, showing a big entry way.

"Wow." Sakura whistled.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, and led her on.

"Finally home, little brother?" A voice called.

"Yeah, yeah." Sasuke replied to the voice.

A man came out from what Sakura could only assume was the kitchen. He was quite good looking, with long, pulled back hair.

"Oh," he stopped as he spotted Sakura, "I don't think I've met your friend before."

"I'm…Sakura Haruno." Sakura muttered, just loud enough for the new arrival to hear her.

"Yeah, she's here to rehearse the play with me, she's the lead female." Sasuke explained quickly, obviously wanting to go.

"I see." The man smirked. "I'm Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke's older brother."

"Nice to meet you." Sakura responded.

"Come on, Sakura." Sasuke beckoned. "We'll rehearse in my room."

Sakura felt a bit of color rise in her cheeks at hearing this. Itachi chuckled and walked out of the room. Sasuke walked down a hall and up some stairs with Sakura on his heels. He entered a room covered with navy blue walls and a big window that showed a lot of the town.

Sasuke put down his bag, and Sakura followed the motion, setting her bag down next to his. She opened it for a moment to pull out the script.

"Where should we start?" Sakura asked.

"Let's start where we both actually meet in the play and go on from there." Sasuke suggested.

"Okay."

They rehearsed their lines, helping each other on a few occasions with how to say things, and motions to do. Sakura turned the page and reddened. Next was Act Seven, Scene Nine.

"Um…for this one…do we…." Sakura stuttered.

"No, and I don't really know if I want to practice the fall, either. That flip makes my head spin uncomfortably." Sasuke clarified.

"Okay."

They went a bit into the scene, and then it was the time where they would have kissed.

"Ayame." Sasuke declared.

"Keichi, I know how you feel, but _I_ feel we may not be able to make it. There are so many factors that would get in our way and…"

Sasuke came and grabbed her by the waist as he was supposed to.

"Ayame, I'm begging. At this rate I'll just be some broken record in your ear, I want you to be with me."

"Keichi."

Sakura looked up at Sasuke, expecting him to let her go, as now the maid should have come in, and the two parts they planned to skip would be happening right then. Instead, he seemed to only get closer. Locked in his grip, she had nowhere to go.

And their lips connected.

A sudden surge of pleasure seemed to go through Sakura's body, Sasuke felt the same thing. He tightened his grip, and Sakura put her arms around his neck, deepening their kiss.

_Chak. _"Sasuke, I came up to—" Itachi stopped and stared at what he just walked in on.

Sasuke and Sakura flew apart, putting three feet between them.

"Well…" Itachi blinked. "I didn't know I was interrupting something. Is that…heh…part of the play?"

"Itachi." Sasuke rumbled. "What do you want?"

"I just came up to…hem…see what you two were up to. Looks like I have some pretty unusual timing; unless that's what you were doing this whole time."

Sakura turned red and hid her face in her hands.

"Get out of here!" Sasuke barked.

"Very well, have fun." Itachi called, closing the door.

Sasuke turned to Sakura, now lost for words over what just happened. His face turned about the same shade of red as Sakura's, but it wasn't covering his whole face like hers was.

"S-Sakura…I…um…" Sasuke stammered.

"I…think I should get going." Sakura replied.

"Wait…but…"

Sakura put on her backpack and looked at him.

Sasuke cleared his throat. "I'm…uh…sorry about that…I just…."

Sakura smiled at him. "It's okay…honestly…I kind of liked it."

Sasuke's face, which had been fading back to pale, went back up to red as she said this. Sakura also lit up a bit again, and then closed the door behind her, walking down the stairs and out the door of the Uchiha household.

Sakura stood at the doorstep for a moment, her hand over her mouth. She looked back, thinking about what just unfolded.

"Ironic…" Sakura whispered. "We were interrupted and surprised…just like the play."

She smiled once, and then walked off the grounds of the Uchiha property.

**Well, how'd you like that one? Good, bad, meh? (Hopefully no bad reviews, seeing as pretty much every review I've gotten has been a good one.) I guess you can consider this the second time since I started writing these stories that I've conquered writers block. (See chapter two to review the horror of me writing under writers block.) Anyway, hope you liked it, review please! And thanks to those who clarified to me that I messed up in my OCC question, that it's actually OOC and it means 'out of character'. Now I can pretend to be one of the smart people up there talking writers' lingo! (Not really, because sometimes I still don't know what some of these shortened things are…. (I don't really use text talk is why.) Till the next chapter! **


	5. The Unfolding

**Chapter Five- The Unfolding**

"OH MY GOD, SAKURA! YOU KNOW HOW BIG THIS IS?" Ino screamed into Sakura's ear on the phone.

"Ino, calm down, my speakers can't take that much noise, if you break them again, you're paying for them." Sakura stated.

"How can you be worrying about some stupid speakers when you've just had your first kiss with Sasuke Uchiha?" Ino shouted, a little quieter.

"You say that like I don't care!" Sakura shouted back.

"It's because you're not acting like you are!" Ino retorted.

"Well, why don't you define for me what I'm supposed to be feeling, because I really don't know what qualifies as your definition of 'I truly care.'" Sakura replied.

"You should be actively showing how happy you are! After all, according to your story, _he's _the one who moved on to _you_!"

Sakura reddened, "I-I know. I'm just in a bit of a swirl seeing as his brother of all people had to walk in on us!"

"Oh, yeah." Ino sighed. She must not have heard that part well over her screaming. "Sounds like the play."

"I know, that's what I was thinking. It's even worse when it's unintentionally done, because you sort of can't act freaked out when you really are."

"I guess that means you two will have the surprise scene down perfectly." Ino laughed.

"Shut up." Sakura muttered.

"Imagine how Karin will feel when she hears Sasuke kissed you on his own free will!" Ino trilled with joy.

"N-no!" Sakura suddenly yelled. "Karin _can't _learn this happened!"

"Why not? She's like, the worst of all the stupid fangirls! It'll serve her right to hear the crushing truth that Sasuke likes and kissed someone else!"

"For one, I don't really even know if he likes me."

Ino scoffed, ignoring this, Sakura continued.

"Besides, if Karin were to hear, she would either do something horrible to me, or worse, she'll try and make a big move on Sasuke like the slut she is."

"Oh, I see your point." Ino's voice dropped.

"Yeah, so Karin doesn't learn, you shut your mouth about it to _anyone. _This includes your stuffed animals."

"Hey, do _not_ mock them!" Ino retorted.

"Okay, I got to go, Ino. I'll see you at school tomorrow." Sakura announced.

"Fine, bye."

"Bye."

'"'"'"'"

The next day, Sakura stood outside her locker, spacing out about things.

"Hey, Sakura, right?" A voice said very loudly by her ear.

Sakura gave an involuntary jump and whipped her head to the side. Next to her was a blond boy with a goofy grin on his face.

Sakura suddenly remembered it was Sasuke's best friend, Naruto Uzumaki.

"Y-yeah." Sakura replied.

"The Teme wants to talk to you out on the patio." Naruto grinned at her.

"Teme?" Sakura echoed.

"Sasuke."

"Oh, okay, thank you."

Shutting her locker, Sakura walked past Naruto and out in the direction of the patio.

Sakura walked outside and looked around, she didn't see anybody.

She considered for a moment that Naruto may have just played some random joke, until she was suddenly pulled to the side. Caught in a panic, Sakura lashed out with her first instinct to punch whatever it was. She succeeded in making contact with something.

"Oi, shit! Sakura, it's me!" A voice declared.

Sakura pulled back and looked at the attacker. It was Sasuke, who now held onto his stomach.

"Oh! Sasuke I'm so sorry, I didn't know it was you!" Sakura gasped.

Sasuke put his hand over her mouth. "Shhh." He whispered. "Don't want to attract too much attention, do we?"

"Sorry." Sakura replied, muffled by his hand.

Sasuke drew his hand back. "It's fine. I'm just afraid a fangirl will spot us."

"So, why'd you send Naruto to get me?" Sakura questioned.

"I wanted to talk to you." Sasuke answered.

"You couldn't wait till we were in class? I mean, we have Drama together, and English, History, and Math."

"No, it's not private enough, and I don't want to bring you by my house for a while with Itachi around to bring up yesterday's incident."

Sakura flushed a bit, remembering it very clearly.

"So, what is it then?" Sakura asked.

"Well…I was wondering if…if you maybe…" Sasuke started to turn a little red.

Seeing him struggling with his words, Sakura unconsciously grabbed his hand. Noticing this, Sasuke returned her gesture and heaved a sigh, starting over.

"Well…I don't really know how to describe this but…yesterday, when I…did what I did…I could feel _something, _something that made me want to feel it again. I don't know how to explain it. And last night I practically kept myself up all night thinking about it."

Sasuke grabbed her hand that was holding his by the wrist and pulled her closer to him. He gently kissed her once on the lips and pulled away.

"I wanted to know if you felt it, too, and if you maybe wanted to go out with me sometime, Sakura."

By this time, Sakura's heart was doing back flips, and her face had risen to somewhere between a cherry and a tomato.

Building her courage, she suddenly shouted out "YES!" and wrapped her arms around him.

Sasuke smirked, pulling her back a bit so her could pull her in and kiss her. Sakura returned this gesture with as much as she could, both tightening their grips on each other.

They pulled apart after a couple minutes, just in time to hear some people coming out onto the patio.

"I heard someone shout out here a couple minutes ago." A voice said.

"I don't see anything." Another replied.

Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other for a moment, and then quickly broke apart. They peeked around a corner, and once the two people weren't looking in their direction, both got out of the little alleyway and went in separate directions.

"_Once again," _Sakura thought, _"we seem to have been interrupted. I hope it won't always be like this."_

**Oh, I bet you'll have plenty of times to be alone with your new **_**boyfriend! **_

Sakura hid the blush coming on to her face. _"Quiet, okay?"_

**Make me! **

Sakura sighed. The bell rang, and she ran off to her next class.

'"'"'"'"

A couple hours later she was in Drama. She and Sasuke took seats that were relatively close by each other, but not close enough that people would get suspicious.

Of course, there was still Karin in the back, taking notice to how much closer they were, and how much easier their scenes together suddenly seemed to flow.

"_Something's up…" _She thought. _"Last I checked those two were barely acquaintances. Now suddenly they're so much easier around each other."_

Sasuke and Sakura took their seats once their act was over.

"Nice job you two." Kakashi complemented. "You're getting better. I'd say we should all have this down perfectly by next week Friday, the day of the final curtain call. Remember to show up everyone, we don't have the luxury of too many understudies. Class dismissed."

Karin's eyes flashed with malevolence. _"Oh, I have the perfect idea! The bitch won't know what hit her, and Sasuke shall be mine!" _

**Ta-dah! And the evil plot unfolds! (Sorry for any of you that think the scenes went by a little fast, unless that's just me thinking it.) I don't really know what to say for right now, I don't really have any questions or random comments…um…three day weekend! (In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. which is kind of ironic because we just started studying the time he was in!) Okay…um…yeah. Hope you liked this chapter, please review! And as far as I know, the next chapter may be my last. (Is six or seven chapters like, my average or something? Oh well, not too long, not too short, at least in my view.) Bye-bye now! **


	6. Role Call

**Chapter Six- Role Call**

By the time next week Friday had rolled around, everything in Sakura's life felt perfect. She had a leading role in a play, the extremely attractive lead male performing next to her was now her boyfriend, and even if they decided to keep their relationship a secret for a little while longer, it had done nothing but progress since that day in the patio. She felt like nothing could bring her down.

Sakura stood in her dressing room with Ino circling around her, making sure her outfit was perfect. Ino tugged at a sleeve here and there, or puffed the dress up in another area, while Sakura patiently, if not a little annoyed, put up with it.

"Okay!" Ino squealed. "You're officially perfect!"

"Yeah, yeah." Sakura sighed. "You pretty much just took up most of the time I have. The play's in half an hour."

"I know, but perfection takes time! Just check yourself out!" Ino declared, turning Sakura to the full length mirror in the room.

Sakura wore a subtle red and white dress. It had long, red sleeves with white trimming which ended perfectly at her wrists. Her dress puffed out a bit in almost an eloquent way after the white sash tied around her waist. The red covering of the dress bottom went down in an upside down "V" shape, showing the white, ruffling dress design underneath. A white collar was tied around her neck with a fake red ruby on it.

She glanced over at Ino who wore a green and white dress, which was understandably not as unique looking as Sakura's seeing as in the play Ayame, Sakura's character, is royalty.

"So, are you excited, Sakura?" Ino asked.

"I guess, but I'm still a little nervous." Sakura sighed.

"Just a few butterflies, if you need to, just imagine that look on Karin's face when she has to watch you and Sasuke kiss on stage."

Sakura smiled a little at this, not because she mentally enjoyed the look that will most probably be on Karin's face, even though that was good too, but because she thought of Sasuke, who'd be by her side the whole time during the play.

"Oh!" Ino gasped. "I better get going! I promised Tenten I'd help out a little backstage."

"But you're wearing a dress."

"Hey, I don't really mind, it's not that good anyway."

Sakura laughed a little as Ino walked out. She turned to the mirror again, checking herself over once more before she headed out the door.

"Maybe I'll go see Sasuke for a moment." Sakura whispered to herself.

She walked down the little maze of hallways they call the actors backstage, looking for where Sasuke was.

"Keichi…Keichi…." Sakura mumbled looking for the door with that labeled across it.

She walked on a little more.

"Keichi…Kei—eep!"

Sakura was suddenly pulled backwards and pushed against a wall. She struggled against the grip of the person. She had been pulled into a dark, empty room, and couldn't see her attacker.

"Quiet you annoying little…" The person grumbled.

Sakura gasped, _it was Karin!_

Karin had her hand over Sakura's mouth, keeping her noise muffled.

"Why don't you just…?" Karin grumbled some more.

Something seemed to have struck Sakura, and she was caught paralyzed for a moment. She cringed and fell over. Karin followed after her, covering her mouth with tape and pulling out a rope. She tied her arms up.

Karin stood for a moment, inspecting her work in the dim light. She dragged Sakura off and down the hall.

"_What's she going to do?" _Sakura thought frantically.

She was suddenly thrown and hit a wall, she saw Karin smirk at her.

"Sasuke is going to be mine. I'll let you know how our first kiss goes, Sakura." Karin laughed and shut the door to the closet Sakura had been thrown into.

"Mmph! Mmph!" Sakura tried to call out, but the tape held her mouth shut.

She lay on her side in the dark closet, silent tears starting to fall.

"_Karin! That little witch! Sasuke…I hope you can do something before things go horribly wrong." _

BING! "Attention, ladies and gentlemen, ten minutes until the play will begin, please start making your way to the auditorium."

"_No! This can't be happening! Someone…anyone…please come! I can't lose like this!" _Sakura shouted in her mind, knowing no one was going to hear.

Meanwhile, up behind the curtain, people had gathered.

"Where is Sakura?" Ino shouted. "We can't do this without our lead girl!"

"I don't know." Sasuke answered, also wondering where his girlfriend had disappeared to.

"Sakura's gone missing?" Kakashi intervened. "Well, that's no good. We'll have to find someone to take her place, it seems."

"No!" Sasuke suddenly burst out.

Everyone looked at him.

"Give her some time; I think she's on her way." Sasuke concluded.

"Well, for now, let's just try to find a back-up. Don't want to end up with some last minute mess." Kakashi stated.

"What do you think we're in right now?" Ino grumbled. "Last I checked, though, we never found a good understudy."

"I'll do it!" Came a voice from behind.

They all turned to see Karin running up in a low-cut, entirely out of the set time period, dress.

"Oh, hell, no!" Ino blurted.

"Oh, but I know all of Ayame's lines, and if Sakura doesn't show, you'll need someone to take her place, or there's no show at all. Do you really want to anger and upset so many people?" Karin declared in a fake innocent tone.

"Well…okay. If Sakura's not here when it's time to start the show, you'll be going up. We'll give her as much time as we can." Kakashi decided, and walked off.

"Oh, Sasuke! I can't wait to get on stage with you!" Karin purred, moving closer to him.

Sasuke took a couple steps back, and Ino looked at Karin suspiciously before running off.

"_I know she's up to something!" _Ino thought. _"Sakura's here somewhere!"_

Back down in the closet, Sakura was still on her side. She had stopped crying, but she was still extremely upset, and ready to wring Karin's neck once she was out of there.

For now, however, her chances of getting out seemed really slim.

"Sakuraaaaa!" She suddenly heard a voice call.

"_INO!" _She thought excitedly.

She could hear Ino's footsteps, and knew she had very little time at the moment. Twisting in her dress a bit, she aimed herself, and then kicked out with her foot, smacking into the door with a loud, resounding, _thud! _

She heard Ino jump not too far away.

"Sakura?" She called. "Is that you!"

Sakura kicked the door once again, and then heard the doorknob turn and click open.

A wave of light washed into the small closet, and Ino stood at the door.

"Sakura!" She gasped, seeing her friend's current state.

Ino went down and unceremoniously ripped the tape from Sakura's mouth, to which Sakura gave her a quick hit once Ino untied her hands.

"Karin?" Ino asked.

"Gee, how'd you know?" Sakura asked sarcastically.

"Because right now she's out behind the curtain hitting on Sasuke, and if you're not out on the stage in the next two minutes, _she's_ Ayame!"

Sakura heard no more of what Ino said after that. She dashed down the hall as fast as a pair of delicate shoes and a dress would let her.

Out behind the curtain on stage, Karin was still trying to get to Sasuke's side, who tried with all his might to stay at least five feet away. There came one moment, though, where he paused as the announcer declared that the play would be starting in a moment. Karin grabbed his arm.

"Well, looks like you and I get to express our feelings on stage very soon." Karin flirted.

Whack!

Karin flew forward, toppling to the front of the curtain a few feet away. Sakura stood, foot still raised, obviously seething.

"You stay away from him, you slut." Sakura growled.

"Sakura!" Sasuke declared happily.

"Oh, Sakura's here." Kakashi stated, suddenly appearing. "Well, Karin, looks like we won't need you to fill in. Bye now, everyone get ready."

Kakashi walked off.

Sakura gave Karin one last glare before she turned to Sasuke.

"How'd you do it?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh, we'll discuss that later." Sakura answered. "For now, let's just give Karin something to really be jealous about."

Sasuke smirked. "Pink evil, it's cute."

Sakura blushed, gripped his hand for a moment, and then walked off as the play began so Sasuke could act.

'"'"'"'"

Later on, after the play, Sasuke and Sakura walked off the stage together and met up with Ino.

"Awe!" Ino squealed. "That was adorable!"

Sakura blushed and Sasuke looked off somewhere else.

"Oh, and that kiss looked so natural, almost like you've practiced it a lot." Ino snickered.

Both Sasuke and Sakura turned red, Sakura stared daggers at her friend, and Sasuke muttered something they couldn't hear.

"Oh, I'm just pulling your leg. I know you only practiced it once." Ino winked and walked off.

"You didn't tell her about us?" Sasuke asked, looking at Sakura.

"Oh, I was just waiting for the right moment; I'll tell her that we've been dating for a week later." Sakura chuckled.

Sasuke laughed a bit. "So, where to now that our play's over and done with?"

"I don't know." Sakura replied.

They were silent for a moment.

"Oh, Sasuke." Sakura called.

"Hn?" He grunted, turning to look at her.

"I never got to ask you, why did you join Drama Club in the first place?"

"Oh…uh…it was a dare from Naruto." Sasuke replied, turning red.

Sakura caught this in an instant, and grabbed his arm.

"Really?" She pressed, getting a little closer to him.

"Well…um…" Sasuke stammered, starting to blush.

Sakura tugged on his arm, trying to lead him.

"You and me." She declared. "Your dressing room."

Sasuke smirked, understanding her gesture, and finally let her lead him off down the hall.

**THE END**

**Woo-hoo! We're done! (Does a happy dance in the computer chair.) I am proud to say that it's been fun working on this. Now it's time to say…that I really don't know what I'm doing next. Something in me wants to do a NaruHina, but then, today, I got a strange, sudden urge to write a songfic. (I don't know why, though, seeing as I typically don't like **_**reading**_** songfic stories, because I typically skip the words to the song and read the story. Which, to my misfortune, typically isn't a very good story.) So maybe that's it, I want to write a songfic that people will actually like. Either that or it's because I've been listening to my new CD for the past few hours over and over and I'm even listening as I type this. (Yes, I am a part of the three percent of the population that still listens to things using CD players. I don't have any of the electronic, compatible stuff.) Anyway, if anyone wants to give their view on which I should do, either tell me in a review or pm (private message) me if you don't want anyone else to see it. Okay, bye! **


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